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We haven’t relaxed in five years. And neither should you! Because the important work of political and civic engagement doesn’t just happen every two years – 2023 has critical elections, starting with a must-win Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin this April.
That’s why we’re officially kicking off our No Off Years program for 2023 with Wisconsin’s April election. For those of you who were around in 2021, this should sound pretty familiar. But if you weren’t, here’s the deal:
Building coalitions for progressive change and winning elections is hard. It’s a lot harder if we don’t show up for key communities until June of even years and pick-up and leave after November. Our philosophy of change means sustained organizing and engagement—up and down the ballot, in all 50 states, every single year.
What's more, elections don’t just happen in Novembers of even years. Republicans are big on this One Cool Trick for Suppressing Your Vote: sneaking incredibly important elections into random times when nobody is paying attention, so that fewer people have a voice in the process. Yeah, no thank you. That’s why there are No Off Years.
There will be plenty of ways to get involved throughout the year in states like Kentucky, Virginia, and more, but here are all the ways you can get involved right now to help out in Wisconsin:
Level 1: Learn
Wow, you’ve already begun step one by opening this email!
The election at the top of the ticket in Wisconsin this spring is the State Supreme Court Election. The Court currently has 4 conservatives and 3 liberals, but one of the conservatives is retiring, so this race is for the majority. In the coming years, the Court will rule on the legality of the 1849 abortion ban currently blocking care in the state, extremely gerrymandered congressional and legislative maps, gubernatorial power, and any election disputes that arise in 2024. So this is a big deal, not just for Badger Staters, but for all of us. After Tuesday's primary, we have our candidates. While it's officially a non-partisan race, Democrats will be backing pro-choice, anti-gerrymandering Judge Janet Protasiewicz. Republicans are lining up behind former Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly, who is extremely anti-choice and homophobic, and was heavily involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. One of these two will be the deciding vote on abortion, fair maps, and voter access.
For now, we’ll be focusing on Wisconsin, but you can look forward to learning more and getting involved in important statewide races like in Kentucky, key state legislature contests like in Virginia, and important local races in places like Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, and more.
In addition to contesting 2023 elections, we’ll also start laying the foundation for 2024. Early organizing and fundraising will be keys to ~yet another~ existential election.
Level 2: Donate
Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court race is going to be the most expensive judicial race in any state, ever. Little known fact: Wisconsin is a hub for some of the biggest conservative donors in the country, who are prepared to spend millions of dollars to win this race.
Unfortunately, that means that we need to be prepared to respond. (If there are any multi-millionaires or billionaires on this email list who want to match the conservatives, feel free to reach out, but barring that, we’ll have to work together to contribute what we can.)
If you’re able, please chip in to support the organizing on the ground in Wisconsin. This is a nonpartisan election, so it’s incredibly important to educate voters about the positions of the candidates—they can’t just go off of an R or D on their ballot, and many may not even know this election is happening. This makes a ground game as important as can be.
What’s more, Judge Janet was forced to use their resources in a competitive primary, so it’s important to get money where it needs to be now, so that the campaign, state party, and progressive groups can all hit the ground running.
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